DC ExtraTime: Someone You Should Know - That Too Hot to Handle Couple

BY DC CUEVA                        

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB/TK

Every so often, I take a few days' break from doing all this hard work on blog posts like this and my YouTube vlogs, and drive with my family over for a weekend with my sister, brother-in-law and their kids. There, we get to spend some quality time in the peacefulness of their gorgeous house replete with an amazing backyard, a nearby wine vineyard and a local golf course as this blogger/vlogger unwinds from working my tail off and just relaxing. That is, even if I have to deal with their newest family member - an adorable little puppy.

In many of these visits, I've had the fortune of getting an entire family room to myself to sleep on the couch and enjoy the over 160+ videos I've posted on YouTube of my Vegas adventures. And in one of those this summer with everyone fast asleep, I decided to use my sister's Netflix account to briefly sample the kinds of shows that you all are obsessed with, but those that feel foreign in my own house because my parents mainly watch slot videos, news, sports and The Bachelor franchise, and of course me with being into MTV Reality shows, sports, music and everything related to Las Vegas.

All Pictures Courtesy Netflix

You might remember back earlier this summer we made a mention about this King Kong of streaming platforms making a deeper dive into its own original reality programming even with having just added the first two seasons of Are You The One? and about to add two each seasons of The Challenge and Teen Mom to a couple Survivor seasons to their lineup - and the first one now being a top ten series on the platform. And while we discussed a star of Love Is Blind who is now both engaged and expecting, another one of those Netflix shows is this post's subject, and not long ago he joined with the most visible alum of the same AYTO season that gave us the Real Deal.

Back last spring, Too Hot to Handle premiered on Netflix and unlike Love is Blind and The Circle which were released on a week-by-week basis, the entire first season was made available all at once like most other series on the platform. When the fourteen singles that comprised the show's cast from all over the world moved into a beach-side resort in Mexico, they thought that they would be going onto that standard run-of-the-mill dating show to try and look for love. And on the first night, they were led to believe that this was just gonna be another one of those shows... but after a night of kisses and hookups, they got a mix of both good and bad news.

It was when they gathered around a table after sundown that they got that those two bits: on the good side, there would be money at stake where at season's end those who are left in the house would share in the jackpot, much like the $1 million we are used on AYTO... only here, it was only a fairly paltry $100,000. But on the bad news side of things, there was a catch to all of this: challenge the singles to create genuine romantic connections in an organic way, and doing whatever they can to abstain from having any sexual contact with other housemates throughout their stay. To put it bluntly, they cannot hook up, have sexual intercourse, or even kiss... otherwise it pays to get it on. Think, a simple makeout can cost these kids $3,000, or a wild night in the boom boom room can be too costly: $25,000(!).

   Pretty much everyone who is savvy enough has someone a virtual friend in their house as we are all finding ourselves in quarantine and in lockdown once again. It was the case when Too Hot to Handle premiered last spring, and aside from a British comedienne who cracked jokes at the housemates while narrating certain scenes on the show (New Yorker turned London expat Desiree Burch), the real star of the show was a cone-shaped virtual assistant named Lana. She was the one who announced to the contestants on the first night that they were pranked into this new kind of reality dating show that allowed absolutely nothing as far as the wild love we're all used to from this kind of trashy TV, and she played the role of being the judge in making sure the house obeys the rules.

   Reflecting the global reach Netflix has on a world that loves to binge their shows, the THTH singles came from all over the globe: five singles from Britain - Chloe Veitch, David Birtwistle, Kelechi "Kelz" Dyke, Lydia Clyma and Kori Sampson, plus Nicole O'Brien from next door in Ireland. From the U.S. came Rhonda Paul from Atlanta, Sharron Townsend from Jersey, Matthew Smith from Colorado, Haley Cureton from Jacksonville, and Bryce Hirschberg and Madison Wyborny from L.A.  And Sharron himself had previous reality experience appearing in MTV's Undressed and VH1's Love & Hip Hop, while Matt was on season 21 of America's Next Top Model.

The person of our interest here came to us from down under: Harry Jowsey grew up on a family farm near Brisbane, Queensland on the East Coast of Australia. At age 23, the owner of a local sunglasses brand was the youngest lad in the THTH villa, and he stands at a mighty tall 6'5" with a love of the gym, the beach, his pet dog and having a laugh - and now he resides in L.A. being very much used to that life by the ocean and the sand.

   Before going onto the show and bigger fame around the world, Harry also had experience being on a romantic reality TV show: he crossed the Trans-Tasman strait to New Zealand where he took part on the AYTO-like local dating show Heartbreak Island, and he won $100,000. When he made his reality debut in the land of the kiwis, Harry described himself in his bio as, "Hilarious, fun and handsome," which is why pubcaster TVNZ dubbed him "...a lovable larrikin who has a real zest for life."

   A guy who has a crush on Ariana Grande and Selena Gomez, he had a not-so-pleasant record when it comes to the dating game and added that he's "hopeless at picking girls" and who looks in his ideal partner to be "just someone who has an awesome personality and is a lovely person deep down." And it came as no surprise that, when he went onto Too Hot to Handle, he instantly clicked with a girl from another city located right by the Pacific Ocean.

26-year-old Francesca Farago spent most of her life in Canada's capital city of Ottawa until just a few years ago, when she moved to the hometown of the country's biggest romantic reality TV import of Bachelor Nation and Winter Ex On The Beach's Daniel Maguire: Vancouver, British Columbia. She had thoughts of wanting to be a lawyer to help settle divorces or help save lives as a paramedic, but she then realized that she could make a living for herself being a social media influencer. Her growing standing saw her date EDM heavyweight Diplo before getting that call to join THTH down in Mexico.

  It was almost love at first sight for Francesca and Harry when they moved into the house, and they won the winners of the Oscar of being the most playful couple in the entire estate in just never letting go of one another... even if there was the dare by Lana to not have sex. The two did break the rules and then some: they got it on by the beach which cost them $3,000 but it wasn't anything like their night in the retreat house, where a night of sex cost them 20K... and they did it again while cuddling in bed - and the house had $6,000 taken out of the bank. And Frankie herself also had another costly hookup - with a girl: she had a $3,000 girl-on-girl kiss with Haley.

 

For a season that was filmed a year before it premiered in a world that needed some much-needed escapist entertainment as a global pandemic began to rip its head on us, it wasn't until after everyone to binge watch this festival of love at home that we found out who was still together. The couple who had the biggest attention was, not surprisingly, Frankie & Harry and it was after they left Mexico hand in hand that they had went their separated after the cameras turned off. When the entire cast got together for a virtual reunion in May, the couple revealed that they had reconciled shortly thereafter and got engaged... only for that to be broken off the following month when she posted this YouTube update.

Frankie has also been spotted with Jersey Shore heartthrob Vinny Guadagnino, Love Is Blind's Damian Powers, Bachelorette Emily Maynard's ex Jef Holm, and model Casey Boonstra. But one of those who must've spent part of her quarantine watching the whole box set of Too Hot To Handle was none other than Tana Mongeau, star of her own MTV reality show on YouTube and who has been in the news a lot in the past year-plus for her relationship with Jake Paul. For one who also sees herself as loving both boys and girls, it wasn't after her breakup with Harry that rumors started abounding of Frankie getting close with Tana. But it was after a video was posted on Tana's TikTok of her hanging out with Harry that things got sour with the two on social media, all as he has becoming immersed himself in the influencer scene getting to know other TikTok stars from the Hype and Sway Houses.

   Those who have been keeping up with what's been going on the ecosystem of the most powerful brother tandem in all of YouTube know of what kind of year Jake and older brother Logan Paul have had this year -- a few boxing fights, plenty of video vlogs and a whole lot of other things... and once you get to know the guys and their circle of friends and family than you are part of their team. One of those on the Paul bandwagon is Julia Rose, who was on Season 4 of Are You The One? four years ago and who made her biggest splash yet when she flashed her goodies in front of America at the 2019 World Series. And to begin the new decade, she was the female lead in Jake's music video for "These Days" and the rumors surrounding them continue to swirl as does him & Tana post their big wedding night.

   While continuing to bring those who follow her on Instagram a daily dose of boundary-pushing pictures that is certainly NSFW, Julia has also been hosting a video podcast that carries the name of her ShagMag operation. And it was around the buzz picking up of her becoming romantic with Harry that he got to join her podcast, The SH*T SHOW, back last summer... and then going onto Logan's webcast, imPAULsive, to help detail what went down to Too Hot to Handle, his romance with Francesca, and share some secrets about dating, romance and sex with the both of them. Below, Harry's chats with them - and a caution, both do contain adult content not suitable for a younger audience.

Since he chatted up with Julia and Logan, things have gotten more juicy: after she got to hang out with Jake and him with Tana again, Harry went off on the AYTO alum for her cheating on him on another podcast -- only adding more to this twisted tale as Julia has gotten back with Jake. And then there's this...

   It's one thing to just be an internet star with being part of the biggest romance of one of Netflix's two entries into reality dating TV... but it's another thing just to make yourself even more well known to the American public by being on a show on a big traditional television network or channel. That's the thing that's facing those who are, right now, looking over the list of celebrities who MTV wants to bring to Season 5 of the American version of Ex On The Beach -- one that, like other series that we cover on here, has been put off due to the pandemic halting TV production everywhere. But just last week, a Twitter fan account brought this rumor up:

Francesca Farago & Harry Jowsey have been contacted for Ex on the Beach 🤩☕️ #TooHotToHandle pic.twitter.com/Ne5BU72zsG

— GamerVev (@GamerVev) December 3, 2020

Sure, Netflix might have that global reach with hundreds of millions of subscribers... but being attached to the original home of reality TV in some way can net even greater exposure. Imagine, a Frankie/Harry showdown on the sand is a potentially big moment that we can only think of at this moment... but for now, they're just rumors. So stay tuned if you hear more about this Too Hot to Handle couple.

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